My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Condition: rare crisp and virtually faultless
impression (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, abrasions, stains or
foxing). Nevertheless, the back of the print shows marks from where the glue
from the print having been mounted in McCreedy’s 1816 folio. The fragment of
the coloured engraving from “Stirpes Novae” (1784), which is a hallmark of
authenticity in the late impressions taken from the original plates by
McCreedy, is arguably delightfully attractive and historically significant.

I am selling this marvellously luminous
original etching by Lorrain, for a total cost of AU$383 (currently US$294.75/EUR250.80/GBP221.26
at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the
world.

If you are interested in purchasing this famous
print by Lorrain, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will
send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note: I have two impressions of this etching.
One of these has the fragment image from “Stripes Novae” (as shown in this
post) and the other is blank on the back."

The impression with the fragment of “Stripes Novae” (verso) has been sold but the second impression that is blank verso is not sold

If I were asked what “made” Claude Lorrain’s
etchings so valued by late 19th century viewers that he developed a cult-like status akin to the esteem held for Rembrandt's etchings, I would argue that Lorrain’s
prints exhibit three critically important visual devices.

Arguably the most important of these visual
devices is his use of what is termed “contre-jour” (i.e. arranging the subject
so that it is in front of—in the sense of partially obscuring—the sun). In this
print, for instance, the arresting aspect of the scene is the fact that the
viewer is looking into intense light with the almost silhouetted forms of the ships
and figures set against this light creating the expression of sparkling
luminosity.

Closely linked to the use of contre-jour is
the visual device, “clair-obscur”, or what is also called, “chiaroscuro” (i.e. theatrical
lighting involving extreme contrast of light and shade). Here, for example, Lorrain
employs heighten tonal contrasts to draw attention to the action of figures in
the middle foreground and to simplify the form of the tower on the left.

The third visual device is what is called “croquis”
(i.e. loosely drawn/“sketchy” treatment of the portrayed subject). This
suggestion of speed and intuitive response in the manner of execution of this
print projects an aura of honesty to the portrayed subject.

Beyond these critically important visual
devices, I also need to point out how carefully he arranged his compositions. Note, for instance, Lorrain's use of framing devices, such as the tower on
the left and the “tall” ships on the right, and the way that he created spatial
intervals/pictorial zones that act like stepping-stones inviting a viewer to
explore the scene from foreground to distance.

For a very interesting examination of the
impact of the above visual devices on late 19th century audiences, I
thoroughly recommend reading Alison McQueen’s (2003) fab book, “The Rise of the
Cult of Rembrandt: Reinventing an Old Master in Nineteenth-Century France”
(Amsterdam University Press).